Starting in Northumberland on August 13, Team Terraclean – comprising Phillip Dowd, Gary Wood, Bob Bathgate and John Bowen – will travel to France to take part in the TwoBall Banger Rally, which then passes through Belgium, Luxemburg, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Italy and Monaco in a 1,200 mile route.

But this year, buoyed by their win in 2014, the boys are hoping to double the run - travelling on to Morocco as part of a bigger and better challenge in a bid to raise £10,000 for MacMillan Cancer Care.

“Last year the organisers told us to come back bigger and better,” said Phillip.

The 35-year-old works for part of Cramlington-based Randstad TerraClean Service Centre network, which is what brought the team together.

Nicknamed Maggie, the same clapped out taxi that blew its head gasket last year will be the team’s home over the four day long race.

However, rather than to rely on a dodgy engine the team has created a 12ft-tall monster truck by joining the taxi body to the chassis of a Land Rover Discovery, adding to the ‘bigger and better’ theme.

Phillip said: “So far we’ve spent about four weekends working on it but there’s only five left until the race, we’ve got a lot of preparing to do.

“It’s not just a case of putting the taxi on top of the Land Rover, you’ve got to make sure the gears are lined up - it’s a lot of work.

“Driving to Africa in a vehicle with no air-conditioning during the height of summer is an endurance test in itself.”

Phil Dowd (left) and Gary Wood who are competing in a rally in Europe in aid of Macmillan Cancer Support

The team were inspired to raise money for MacMillan by a friend, Peter Almond, who battled the disease for seven years but managed to help raise funds as he bravely fought on.

“He’s been an inspiration but sadly he passed away,” Peter said.

“Cancer has touched all of our lives and we just wanted to raise as much as we could.”

Already donations from motoring firms have flooded in with free parts set to power the team on their way to success, and they are confident they can equal the £10,000 raised last year.

Due to the terrorist attacks in Tunisia Phillip said there was a chance their final destination could alter.

He added: “We won’t be putting our personal safety in danger, so it might change.

“We’re having a launch party on August 1 and hopefully we might be able to raise a couple of thousand.

“It seems like months away but it’s really not long, it’ll be a real challenge.”